What has Alan Partridge done to offend Steve Coogan?

Steve Coogan has dedicated years of his life of the deconstruction of a fictional sports reporter. You have to ask whether it has been worth the effort.

Yes, Partridge is vain, prejudiced and deluded, but did we ever think that radio and TV sports reporters were much different from that?

Chris Morris's contribution to On the Hour and The Day Today were more important than Coogan's because they were making fun of current affairs presenters and current affairs programmes in general - things we are far more inclined to take seriously.

I have a nagging suspicion that Partidge is being tortured for being less fashionable and less successful than Coogan. Why, he even reads the Daily Mail! If he doesn't hold the left-wing views it is obligatory to express in the circles in which Coogan moves, we are supposed to conclude, then he deserves all he gets.

The relations between comic characters and their creators are complex - you feel Dame Edna is more than a match for Barry Humphries - but maybe it is time for Coogan to find a more deserving target for his talents.